An early Shiba Inu (SHIB) investor has cemented one of the most lucrative trades in cryptocurrency history, turning a modest $13,760 investment into over $660 million in total gains. The wallet, which originally purchased a staggering 103.33 trillion SHIB—representing nearly 20% of the meme coin's circulating supply at the time—has been methodically taking profits over the past few years.
According to blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain, the whale recently sold another 800 billion SHIB tokens, netting approximately $4.9 million. This latest sale adds to a series of disposals that have seen the investor offload a total of 4.06 trillion SHIB, pocketing roughly $37.6 million in realized profits. Despite these sales, the wallet still holds a massive 99.27 trillion SHIB, currently valued at around $625 million. The combined realized and unrealized profits now exceed $660 million, translating to a mind-boggling 48,000x return on the initial investment.
The whale's journey is not an isolated incident of SHIB-fueled wealth. Two years ago, during one of Shiba Inu's triple-digit monthly surges, another trader who had spent just $2,500 to acquire 50 billion tokens moved their stash to Coinbase, at which point selling would have yielded over $1.5 million. Similarly, an anonymous investor who bought 48 billion SHIB for $2,700 in early 2021 later sold their entire holdings for approximately $1.24 million.
However, the timing of the latest profit-taking appears strategic, as Shiba Inu has faced a severe downturn. Over the past year, SHIB's price has plunged 53%, and its market capitalization has fallen below $4 billion. The token has also lost its position as the second-largest meme coin to MemeCore (M), while Dogecoin (DOGE) remains the sector leader with a market cap of around $16.5 billion.
Several on-chain indicators suggest that SHIB's decline could deepen further. Daily transaction volume on Shibarium, Shiba Inu's layer-2 scaling solution, has plummeted to mere hundreds, a stark contrast to the millions of daily transactions recorded before last year's exploit. Additionally, SHIB's burn rate has dropped by 26% over the past week, reducing the deflationary pressure that the token relies on to support its price. Finally, the balance of SHIB held on exchanges has been increasing, as investors move tokens from self-custody to centralized platforms, signaling growing selling pressure.
